Boo: hoo?

One of the three books we are supposed to read in our course Communication and Technology is Boo Hoo by Ernst Malmsten. In the book, Ernst extensively describes in every single detail the buildup, running and breakup of his and his friend’s Kajsa’s e-commerce company boo.com.

What pulled me through the book the most was the constant struggle of owners and employees for both the company’s development and simultaneous existance. Several times boo.com appeared to be lost and until the final disaster the owners continuallz came up with new ideas and solutions for boo’s rescue. In the end, I as well as Ernst himself, could not believe that this is really the end of the story. I even checked the domain boo.com to be sure it does not exist anymore.

Furthermore, Boo Hoo provided fabulous insight in how to run a company (however, I might lessen the vodka consumption). I especially became aware of the important role of investors to the building up of a company and how fast it can be over through no one´s own fault.

What I didn’t like were the detailed descriptions of every single meeting and every single person working in the company. I gradually lost the survey of names and companies in the middle of the book. Maybe Ernst forgot that the reader wasn’t there and has no relationship to all the persons. Maybe an appendix might have been helpful with an overview about all involved persons and companies, such as The Lord of the Rings includes, to know exactly what he talks about.